“You discern my thoughts from afar.” –Psalm 139:2

This line is both comforting and frightening. It is comforting in the sense that knowing God listens to my thoughts gives me a feeling of connectedness with my Creator. It brings a tremendous amount of solace to know God understands me so well and so deeply as to know my very thoughts.

But it is disturbing and terrifying at the same time. I know my thoughts. I know how carnal they are, how frivolous and blasphemous they are. If I could peel back the curtain and let others see my thoughts, you would see how vain, self-centered, manipulative, paranoid and depraved my thoughts are. If I were to truly speak what was on my mind, I wouldn’t have a friend in this world.

My thoughts are the one place I don’t want to let God in. I don’t want Him to know my worst sentiments or to let Him hear the idle thoughts that come out of nowhere and that I don’t even think I can control. My mind can be a scary place, even for me— and I don’t like to think my Father in Heaven would want to even take a peek in there— but he does. Over and over again.

He sees my thoughts clearly and chooses to do so. Even more unfathomable is that He chooses to love me, even after knowing what goes on in my mind. That is an indescribably powerful love. Think about your darkest most carnal most evil thoughts… if your spouse or closest friend were aware of those, would they still be able to love you?

This is the true measure of God’s unconditional love! His thoughts are not our thoughts, but He loves us despite even our most vulgar thoughts.